Former Colonial power attempts to wield match instead of a big stick

In shock news today a nearly bankrupt third world country that was formerly a world colonial power suddenly found it was wielding a match instead of a big stick when attempting to address the problems in Syria.

Politicians who had spent several years whittling away the big stick dispite the recommendations of highly experienced military commanders were left astounded by the fact that they found themselves without the big stick and despite searching through several cupboards in the House of Commons were only able to come up with a solitary match.

Attempting to avoid an embarrassing backtrack the coalition voted to use the match to inflame the middle east situation, however the opposition pointed out it was a safety match and would need the United States to step in to bring a box so they had something to strike it on.

It later transpired that the former colonial power had sold several big sticks to Syria in the past, but always thought it had kept a bigger stick for itself until now when it really needed one.